Flyers outlast Penguins in wild finish

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds (17) celebrates with defenseman Luke Schenn (22) and center Danny Briere (48) after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH - For fans of Arena League football, NBA All-Star games and Little League baseball, the NHL’s intra-Pennsylvania rivalry must be sheer heaven. Long passes aimed at quick scores, no defense around the net and constant walks home only begin to describe what these Philadelphia-vs.-Pittsburgh hockey games can become.

In the space of 60 mostly zany minutes Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center, however, the Flyers and Penguins showed just how entertaining they can be, too.

“I couldn’t tell you what happened during the game,” Claude Giroux said after realizing his Flyers had survived for a 6-5 victory in a near replay of how the teams went at each other in the playoffs last spring. “There were so many things that happened ... I don’t know if it was fun to watch, but it was fun to play.”

Despite an early lead by the Penguins that forced Flyers coach Peter Laviolette into chew-out mode at the bench, it seemed at one point midway through the third period that the Flyers had a comeback victory in hand. Then in head-spinning order came a flop of a four-minute power play by the Flyers, followed by a final eight minutes spent with the Penguins almost exclusively enjoying either a one- or two-man advantage.

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Along the way, Pittsburgh reversed what had been a 5-3 Flyers lead, finally getting a tying goal from Brandon Sutter with 2:03 remaining in regulation. Then as if by magic, Jakub Voracek found a puck in a corner and fired a better-than 90 degree prayer at the net with 1:31 left ... and it bounced off Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun and went in.

Game, set ... well, it was a victorious match only after another exhausting series of near-misses by the Penguins (11-6) in the final minute.

The Flyers (8-9-1) thus won their second straight game, and snapped the Penguins’ three-game winning streak that had vaulted them into the Eastern Conference lead. Doing most of the damage was Voracek, who registered what he said was his first hat trick since he was a little kid, and who now has three goals and seven assists in his last five games.

Wayne Simmonds was also too much for the Pens to handle, collecting a pair of goals, an assist and a beauty of a fight along the way. Somehow, that gave him perspective on the nutty game in which he just played.

“I thought we started off pretty rocky and kind of finished pretty rocky,” Simmonds said. “But I think in-between, we played a pretty solid game. You’re sure to see fireworks anytime Pittsburgh and us meet, but it was a good win for us.”

It began with several minutes of the Flyers acting like spectators for a Pittsburgh ballet on ice. Before long, Matt Niskanen had sent a long-distance slapper past Ilya Bryzgalov for 1-0. That left Laviolette in a mood for an impromptu meeting.

“They came out hard and we were just lax everywhere, to be honest with you,” Laviolette said. “Faceoffs, forecheck, puck battles ... we needed to wake up a little bit.”

Before they did, Evgeni Malkin doubled the lead by chipping in a rebound on a power play at 7:15 of the first. But then the Flyers started closing down passing lanes and getting tougher. Down 12-2 on the shots board midway through the period, the Flyers suddenly leveled the ice. A bizarre exchange outside of Vokoun’s crease led to an en masse pajama party in the net, and somehow the unfrozen puck slipped out to Flyers defenseman Nick Grossmann, who lifted it up and in to halve the lead at 11:49. Exactly a minute later, Simmonds cut a skillful path to the slot and slid a shot off the stick of Penguins defender Brooks Orpik and in for 2-2 after one whacky period.

The game then settled, but with 10 seconds left in the second, the Flyers finally gained a lead. Vokoun couldn’t control a Brayden Schenn slapper, and Simmonds jabbed at the loose puck, knocking it over to Voracek, who lifted it high and home to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead after two periods.

All of 18 seconds into the third, another scramble left Vokoun diving and leaping away from his crease. Again Voracek found a loose puck and he planted it for a 4-2 lead. Shortly thereafter, Malkin went off for a retaliatory shot on Sean Couturier, and it would be a four-minute Flyers power play. It seemed over.

The power play went nowhere.

“We were kind of scrambly there,” Simmonds said. “We’ve got to get that killer instinct. We could have put the nail in the coffin there. That was pretty brutal, actually.”

Almost as if by dramatic turn, the Flyers proceeded to give the Pens a series of power play chances, including consecutive two-man advantages. They closed the gap to one, and then couldn’t close the deal. But with barely more than two minutes remaining, Sutter tied it up and the already crazed crowd reached another level.

Before the whooping fans had time to finish celebrating, however, Voracek gained possession near the far corner and decided to throw the puck on net ... and Vokoun accidently steered it in.

“It took a lucky bounce,” Voracek noted, “but I’ll take it.”

All that was left was 1:31 more of Penguin waves at Bryzgalov, but the Flyers survived ... until next time.

“Roller-coaster, up-and-down,” Danny Briere said. “You go through so many emotions. This was just like the playoffs, I guess.”